I have just been advised from a member of our Coomera Crime Bulletin email list of an email scam.
How this one works is that they send you an email claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office and advise that you are eligible for a tax refund. The email address from the sender will also appear to be from ”ato.gov.au” and have attached a “ .html “ file that appears to be a genuine web page “ato.gov.au.html”
If you click on properties of the sender of the email you will see that it is not from the ATO.
They hope that you are too lazy to search for the ATO web site and open up the attached .html page.
If you open that file it appears to open a link to a genuine ATO internet page – BUT it is a COPY of the ATO web site but if you look at the web address http://web.skru.###### etc you can clearly see it is NOT the ATO.
It asks for your personal details such as email, date of birth tax file number etc. to do a search. If you do this your details will be sent a person(s) unknown and I guarantee that you will be the victim of identity theft. The consequences of being a victim of identity theft is enormous that could result in fraud offenders claiming to be you & then the victims of fraud chasing you for unpaid bills & a bad credit rating making it almost impossible for you to get a loan. Some Victims of identity theft have found out their identity has been stolen when they are advised that their licence has been disqualified due to offences they haven’t committed or there is a warrant for their arrest. Try and explain that to an insurance company when you are trying to make claim for a traffic accident. Identity theft will continue to haunt the victim for years.
The ATO has been contacted and they confirmed that they are not the author of the email and do NOT send out emails like this.
Please be careful unsolicited emails you receive that sound too good to be true as usually they are not true. Please conduct some investigation into the source of the email to ensure it is genuine before giving out any of your personal information.
For more information of fraud & scams as well as how to report scams, please visit Qld Police web site http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/crimePrevention/fraud/
OTHER INFORMATION THAT MAY ASSIST.
Report this type of scam via the SCAMwatch “report a scam” page at
www.scamwatch.gov.au or by calling 1300 795 995
USEFUL WEBSITES
SecureIdentity - for more information on identity theft and what you can do to secure yourself.
www.SecureIdentity.com.au Telephone1800 022 043
QLD Office of Fair Trading (OFT) www.fairtrading.qld.gov.au Telephone: 13 13 04
Australian Securities & Investments Commission – financial tips and safety checks
www.fido.gov.au.
SCAMwatch – a site to help you recognise, report and protect yourself from scams
www.scamwatch.gov.au Telephone 1300 795 995
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) has developed an initiative to assist victims reporting
Advance Fee Fraud. This initiative will, in some cases, progress a fraud report to an overseas
Law Enforcement Agency. It will also provide the QPS with key intelligence to proactively combat this crime. To report a matter of Advance Fee Fraud please follow the steps outlined in the Online Reporting System for Advance Fee Fraud located at
With thanks to - Sgt Martin Webb
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